Hotel Stern and Post

North facade, towards Gotthardstrasse

View from the garden from the southeast

The Hotel Stern und Post in Amsteg ( Silenen ), Canton Uri , is one of the oldest hotels in Switzerland . As early as the 14th century, there was an inn at the same place - at the last stop before the climb to the Gotthard Pass . It was first mentioned in documents in 1357 as "the house of Werner, host of Amsteg, at the beginning of the climb to the Gotthard Pass". The current main building was erected between 1788 and 1789 after a village fire in 1785 had completely destroyed the old Gasthof zum Stern . The name Stern und Post goes back to the establishment of stagecoach traffic over the Gotthard in 1842, because the hotel became an important base for stagecoaches through the addition of stables . In 1850, the newly created Federal Post Office set up one of its first public post offices in a part of the building. The "Amsteg Post" bus stop is still an important hub for Postbuses today .

building

The building complex changed its face again and again over time. In 1830 the building was extended by a rear annex from 1788 and converted into a luxury hotel in 1907. In the years after the Second World War, the hall and restaurant on the ground floor as well as the entrance area with the main staircase were redesigned. In 1957, the hotel was expanded again by an annex that was connected to the garden on one side only on the first floor. In 2008 the hotel was partially renovated, but the building shell was not changed.

hotel

The various structural measures also reflect the changes in hotel guests over time. At the beginning, the inn served traders and travelers as a rest stop and last accommodation before the dangerous crossing of the Alps before the climb to the Gotthard. With the commissioning of the Gotthard tunnel in 1882, the Gotthard Railway now ran directly from Lucerne to Milan - crossing the pass lost its mandatory risk and became a voluntary adventure for tourists . With the renovation in 1907, the owners at the time reacted to the changed demand. The target audience of the hotel were now well-heeled tourists from abroad. In the course of the following decades, these were replaced by the expansion of the transport and tourism infrastructure in Switzerland by travelers and mountain hikers .

Since the renovation in spring 2008, the Hotel Stern und Post has been a hotel in the medium price segment. It has around 20 rooms, three dining rooms, a restaurant and a bar.

The Swiss national group of the International Council for the Preservation of Monuments (ICOMOS) awarded the Stern und Post the ICOMOS Mobiliar Special Prize 2009 for the "professional restoration of the fully preserved stock of high-quality hotel furniture from all epochs of the company."

The hotel was owned by the same family for almost 200 years. In 2007 it was sold and the new owner started a partial renovation. The current private owners of the Hotel Stern & Post are planning the restoration of further parts of the building and also want to revitalize the house culturally.

Visit Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe stopped at the Gasthof zum Stern at least three times on his travels through Switzerland, both before and after the fire of 1785. In 1775, presumably on his first visit, he paid tribute to the baked fish served, but there are also some Critical comments about the area in general and the service of the inn in particular. On Thursday, October 5th, 1797, he wrote in his diary:

“(...) General complaint that the farmers are so greedy for money. Resemblance of women. (...) We came back to the nut tree region and had something to eat again at the Gasthof zum Stern am Steg, and then walked the footpath towards Altdorf . Water and bread vows of the stingy landlady. (...) "